Should I call now? understanding what context is considered when deciding whether to initiate remote communication via mobile devices

Abstract

Requests for communication via mobile devices can be disruptive to the current task or social situation. To reduce the frequency of disruptive requests, one promising approach is to provide callers with cues of a receiver's context through an awareness display, allowing informed decisions of when to call. Existing displays typically provide cues based on what can be readily sensed, which may not match what is needed during the call decision process. In this paper, we report results of a four week diary study of mobile phone usage, where users recorded what context information they considered when making a call, and what information they wished others had considered when receiving a call. Our results were distilled into lessons that can be used to improve the design of awareness displays for mobile devices, e.g., show frequency of a receiver's recent communication and distance from a receiver to her phone. We discuss technologies that can enable cues indicated in these lessons to be realized within awareness displays, as well as discuss limitations of such displays and issues of privacy.